"Huh", she exclaimed.

"What? Have you forgotten your promise?", he asked.

"Um... No. I mean it would be unnecessary trouble for you. It's ok, I will eat back at my place", Akira said, as she badly wanted to get away from him.

"Fine then, I will also manage", he said and turned towards her.

"Wait here, I will get my keys and drop you home", he said and moved ahead.

"Manage? What do you mean by manage?", Akira asked.

A wide grin flashed on his face. He knew that the fish had caught the bait. He wiped away that joyous smile of his from his face and turned back and said,

"I mean my cook is not in town, so I will just manage to cook something. Or have instant noodles or order a pizza or something. Don't worry", he said, intensifying his trap.

"Ugghh... he works more than 14-16 hours a day and doesn't eat well. C'mon Akira, you can't be that heartless to make him eat instant noodles", Akira thought and tried to fight with the thoughts in her head which were directing her to get out of his house immediately.

"Umm... wait. Umm... let's have dinner together", she said in a softer register.

"I am sorry, I was a bit edgy earlier", she said and kept back her bag and phone on the table.

He wanted to laugh so bad, but somehow he maintained his composure. She was such a naive and beautiful soul that he couldn't bear to hurt her, but neither could he bear to let her go. All that he wanted was her time and probably all of it.

"Where is your kitchen?", asked Akira.

"It's this way. Follow me", he said and walked ahead of her.

"So what are you planning to cook?", Akira asked, breaking the silence and probably making an attempt at sending an Olive Branch to him for peace.

"What do you want to eat? "Raymond asked her back.

"I am fine with anything. Let's make something healthy as you work a lot and ear erratically. So it's better if you binge on something healthy", she said.

"Ok, then what about chicken Caesar Salad?", he asked.

"Sounds good to me", Akira said sounding all pleased.

As they both entered the kitchen, Akira increased her pace and went ahead of him and blocked the refrigerator and said,

"Since you are cooking, the chopping department is mine".

He smiled as the poor girl had not even one single hint about the devious plan that he had hatched.

"Sure thing", he said and picked up his apron.

Akira opened the fridge but was shocked to her core. There was nothing in the fridge except water, juice and beer cans. Not even a single vegetable or egg or bread. Not a single thing that can be cooked.

She opened the door even wider and turned towards him,

"What am I supposed to chop now?", she asked all puzzled.

"Oh too bad. Looks like my cook didn't stock a thing. What to do?", he said looking all confused and disappointed.

"Oh wait !!! I have seen a grocery store just a couple of blocks away from here while coming to your place. We can go there and pick up the ingredients", she said all enthusiastically.

"Oh great !!! Will get my keys then", he said and went to his bedroom.

Akira took one more cursory look at his pantry section as well, trying to mentally take notes of the things that they might need while cooking.

"God, he has such a painful and pathetic living. No time to even take basic care of his own", she thought to herself.

He happily picked up his car keys and then called her to go to the grocery store.

"Why do you need the car?", she asked after walking up to him.

"What do you mean?", he asked.

"I mean the shop is hardly a couple of blocks away. Do you really need to go in a car? We can just walk right?", she asked.

"Ok", he said and followed her.

She never failed to amuse him. Not even once.

While walking towards the grocery store initially she was a bit silent but a few minutes later she started talking with him about random stuff as the silence was making her feel all awkward and she wanted to keep her head free from any neurotic thoughts.

"Have you ever counted the number of steps from your house to any place?", she asked.

"No, and why would I do that?", he asked all surprised.

"Because it's fun and you can play it like a game. Say a shop is 150 steps away. So the next time you go to the shop you try to beat your score, like trying to reach the store in 145 steps", she said.

"But I will win against whom?", he asked.

"Huh?", she was taken aback with his question.

"You play with yourself, so basically you play against yourself. You win against yourself and you lose against yourself", she blabbered uncontrolled.

"Akira !!!", he called her, interrupting her monologue.

"Yeah", she replied.

"We have reached the store", he said and picked a basket.

It was only then that her incessant blabbering came to a halt. She followed him inside the store obediently.

They picked up all the necessary ingredients for preparing the salad. Then they moved towards the dairy section as Raymond needed milk and yogurt. He picked up two cartons of milk and 1 tub of plain and unflavored yogurt.

Akira saw him taking the tub of yogurt and made a disappointed face.

"What now? ", asked Raymond.

She picked the yogurt tub and showed the MRP to him. Then she picked up a yogurt pouch of the same volume and showed him the MRP. It was almost 35% lower than the price of the tub, even though the quantity was the same.

"Why do you want to pay 35% extra just for pretty packaging?", she asked and replaced the tub with the yogurt pouch in his basket.

An elderly guy who had overheard them looked at Raymond and commented,

"You got a smart wife there young man. Treasure her and she will bring you fortunes !!!".

He then tapped on his shoulder and left.

Akira stood there dumbfounded and then muttered slowly,

"But I am not his wife".

"One day you will be", his heart just screamed.